Courtesy Val Kosmider
Watching the waters of a 4,520-acre Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir in Upstate Tennessee is a long-time passion for Boone Lake Association President Val Kosmider. He oversees one of the oldest environmental groups in the state.
Tell us about your work as President of Boone Lake Association. It’s a volunteer position, so you’ve got a day job, too.
Compensation for this work is the reward of helping make our community a better place for all. In my day job, I work in the financial markets. Our board and four employees bring all sorts of skills as we pursue many activities in lake operations and fundraising. We also produce a publication for the community—“The Shoreliner.”
Boone Lake Association is more than 30 years old, and you’ve shared the lake is cleaner than ever. It’s a getaway for nearby urban populations in virtually every direction. What does BLA do that is so vital?
The focus of Boone Lake Association is simple: keep the lake clean and safe for everyone. We remove trash, logs and various flotsam from the lake. We use barges, electronic mapping and location monitoring, accessory tools and safety gear. Our partners include Washington and Sullivan counties, and Johnson City, which supports us with brush trucks and dumpsters to remove what can’t be recycled.
After discovering seepage at the bottom of Boone Lake Dam in 2014, TVA completed the long-awaited repair, and waters are being raised to normal levels this summer. How did it change what BLA does?
A leak in Boone Dam in 2014 literally and figuratively dropped the bottom out of our lake. Association fundraising plummeted, boats were stranded, and the lake became a kind of ghost town. Marina owners and residents were devastated. Lake events were cancelled and overall activity slumped to a crawl.
Since 2014, new vegetation thrived in the exposed lakebed, empty docks rotted and fell to the exposed shoreline, and logs from the original 1950s reservoir construction floated up from their burial places. Material lodged in the new growth as the lake level rose and fell. We partnered with TVA and Boone Dam Repair Coalition to bring in logistics, heavy equipment and personnel to map areas that needed attention. We all geared up for the challenge of bringing the lake back. We upgraded equipment, purchased our first-ever trash skimmer and removed thousands of tons of vegetation, logs, trash and tires from the lake. Today, as the water returns to nearly “full pool,” the lake is clean, recreational activity is thriving and area businesses are returning to full steam! Locals and tourists are wearing big smiles as to the lake’s pristine condition.
When people read this, BLA will have completed another cleanup day on April 30. What does this mean to the region?
The 23rd Annual Boone Lake Cleanup brings together our Association, businesses, governments and hundreds of volunteers. Donors provide financial fuel, and our volunteers work five locations around the lake.
What happens next is huge. Volunteers remove more than 15 tons of trash, tires, old appliances and more from the lake. Each item of trash returned earns a ticket to a drawing. This year’s grand prize is a donated kayak. The day ends with a picnic and live music at Winged Deer Park in Johnson City. We donate any remaining food to a local soup kitchen.
You liken BLA to a kind of “mini–Nature Conservancy,” and you’re passionate about education. What’s next?
Our board members bring great experience and expansive minds. Daily we tackle the obvious— removing trash from Boone Lake. More funding will allow us to communicate more effectively with stakeholders, expand water testing and prepare signage encouraging everyone to be good stewards.
Most importantly, we want to develop programs that educate our young people on the value of a clean lake that is an amazing recreational resource, power generation facility and drinking water reservoir.
The story above first appeared in our July / August 2022 issue.
